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Monday, May 29, 2017

In my previous post
I discussed a number of the reasons why I use the adjective ‘progressive” when theorising
progressive Islam/progressive Muslim Thought”, a question that is frequently put
to me in my discussions with various people on the subject matter.

In this post I want
to address another issue that arises in relation to progressive Islam, namely the
claim some have made that progressive Islam is ‘secular’ and/or ‘western’.

Putting aside issues
pertaining to the theorising of the concept of secularism as, for example, discussed at length by
scholars such as Charles Taylor and that of ‘western’ civilisation as for
example discussed by K.A. Appiah , those who subscribe to this view would
be surprised to find out that in my
book on the imperatives of progressive Islam I have used the words
‘secularity’ , ‘secular’, ‘secularise’ and ‘secularism’ once only respectively.

In my first
book on progressive Muslim thought published back in 2011 I explicitly stated that:

“ it
is clear that progressive Muslims do not subscribe to commonly employed
dichotomies such as, tradition vs. modernity, secularism vs. religion, or
simplistic generalization such as modernity =Western or Judeo- Christian
intellectual /civilizational tradition.( P.124).

Elsewhere
in the same book I also argued as follows:

“it is important to note that
progressive Muslims are critical

of the metanarratives underpinning
classical modernity and the Age of

Enlightenment characterized by the
notions of a universal legislative, secular,

and objective reason and objective
truth. Instead, they advocate what

Sheyla Benhabib would describe as a
weak form postmodernism where

truth is sought in a dialectical
relationship between revelation, reason, and

the sociohistorical context in
which both are embedded.

“According to this view,
[r]ationality and belief, human rights and divine obligation, individual and social
justice, collective reason and religious morality, human mind and divine
revelation are living peacefully together.”,p.135.

The same arguments
apply in relation to the concept or idea of progressive Islam being ‘western’.

In my first
book I have provided a detailed discussion on how progressive Muslim
thought approaches the concept of modernity and its relationship with the “West’
whereby I argued as follows:

“Progressive Muslims, thus,
subscribe to the view that the

Socio-political and cultural
processes that have brought about epistemological

and ontological changes in the
Western worldview and resulted

in the advent of modernity as we
know it today are considered a result of

a dynamic process of civilizational
interaction and mutual construction

progressive Muslims believe that
this late modern episteme could be also

applied within the framework of the
sociocultural context of the Muslim

majority societies resulting in the
genesis of another distinct type of

modernity”.
( p.136).

In actual fact I am currently working on a paper titled “Progressive Islam
as a non-western form of critical cosmopolitanism”.

So if progressive Islam is not ‘western’ or ‘secular ‘what is it? In a
nutshell Progressive Islam is but a contemporary articulation of Islamic
humanistic and cosmopolitan values, beliefs and practices. It is an approach to
the Islamic tradition based on:

1. creative, critical and innovative thought
based on epistemological openness and methodological fluidity,2. Islamic liberation theology,3. social and gender justice ,4. a human rights based approach to Islamic tradition,5.
rationalist and contextualist approaches to Islamic theology and ethics, and6. affirmation of religious pluralism

The claims that progressive Islam is ‘secular’ and
/or ‘western’ is , in some cases ,nothing but an attempt of certain sections of
the Muslim community and individuals such as Daniel Haqiqatojou, Yaser Qadhi, and others to try and discredit this school of thought. They do so
despite having never read my works on theorising of
progressive Islam/Muslim thought even though most of them are available freely and they
are aware of them. However, they prefer and are willing to engage in all kinds of apologetics and distortions
to appease their supporters. They do so,
however, at the cost of scholarship and erudition.

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About Me

Adis Duderija is currently a Visiting Senior Lecturer at the University Malaya, Gender Studies. He received his Ph. D in 2010 from the University of Western Australia. He is the author of Constructing Religiously Ideal ‘Believer’ and ‘Muslim Woman’ Concepts: Neo-Traditional Salafi and Progressive Muslim Methods of Interpretation (Manahij), Palgrave, 2011. His other publications can be found on the tabs above.